Sensex closes at 8509; Nifty at 2,524

Just In:The Sensex and the Nifty closed below October 27, 2007 closing values of 8509.56 and 2524.20, respectively. The 30-share BSE Sensex shed 322.77 points or 3.68 per cent to settle at 8,451.01, after hitting an intraday low of 8,316.39.4:18 PM 11/20/2008

Sensex plunged 361 points to 8,411 and the Nifty fell 90 points to 2,545, at 2:14 hrs IST. BSE Midcap and Small cap indices are still down over 3.4 per cent each.2:50 PM 11/20/2008

The Sensex fell 341 points to 8,432 and the Nifty plunged 95 points to 2,540, at 10:50 hrs IST. BSE Midcap and Small cap indices lost 3.4% each.12:24 PM 11/20/2008

Mumbai, Nov 20: At 9:56 am, the Sensex declined by 378 points to 8,395 and the Nifty fell 103 points to 2,531. CNX Midcap lost 103 points to 3,277. The markets crashed in early trade following big slump in Asian and US markets, due to Fed cuts economic growth forecast for 2008 and 2009 and weak housing data. This is the seventh day in a row that the benchmark indices have been falling towards October lows.

Brokers said Foreign funds are dumping stocks in Indian and other emerging markets to shore up resources to beat the global liquidity crunch. Asian shares tumbled as economic data indicated a global recession could get even uglier. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan were down by between 1.2 per cent to 5.66 per cent.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was weak. On BSE, 216 shares rose as compared with 1,102 that declined. 28 shares remained unchanged.

All the 30 stocks from the Sensex pack were in the red.

The top heavy weights losers were ICICI bank by 7.84 per cent to Rs 320.45, REL Infra by 7.53 per cent to Rs 421.55, HDFC by 7.03 per cent to Rs 1,270, DLF Limited by 6.68 per cent to Rs 209.40, HDFC Bank by 6.66 per cent to Rs 827.95 and TATA Power by 6.53 per cent to Rs 632.95.10:12 AM 11/20/2008